Heat Transfer from Plutons Undergoing Hydrothermal Cooling and Thermal Cracking

Abstract

Numerical calculations are reported for the transient cooling of a solidified intrusion embedded in a water-saturated porous layer. Heat transfer rates are increased greatly when the intrusion undergoes thermal cracking as it cools. The effects of a uniform heat flux into the porous layer from below are considered. Solutions are obtained for porous layers that are initially above or below the critical-layer Rayleigh number for thermal convection. For conditions considered in this study, the effects on the cooling intrusion of initial convection and layer aspect ratio are small. Results are correlated by scaling velocities with the intrusion Rayleigh number.